Doctor’s Trial in Death of His Pregnant Lover Opens

The capital murder trial of Kevin Anderson opened Tuesday with the prosecutor declaring that the prominent Pasadena doctor planned and executed an “almost perfect murder” of his female colleague because she was pregnant with his child, posing a threat to his marriage and career.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marian M.J. Thompson said she intended to show a Pasadena Superior Court jury that Anderson strangled Dr. Deepti Gupta on Nov. 11 on a remote San Gabriel Mountains road, then doused her with gasoline and pushed her off the cliff in her Mercedes sport utility vehicle.

It was premeditated murder, Thompson said, aided by a “murder kit” that included a tie, rope, gloves and gasoline.

The prosecutor alleged that Anderson, 42, a neonatologist who lived in La Verne, hatched the murder plan the day before the killing, when Gupta, 33, told him she was pregnant with his child as they met secretly at a Super Motel 8.

“That is when he formulated his plan to kill Dr. Gupta,” the prosecutor said. “If his wife ever found out, she would kick him out on the street and ruin him personally and professionally.”

Anderson’s wife, a nurse, previously scuttled plans for her husband and Gupta to form a medical practice because of jealousy, the prosecutor said.

Thompson said DNA tests indicate that Anderson was the father of the fetus. “Not only did he take the life of a female colleague . . . he also took the life of his unborn son,” she told jurors.

Thompson’s introduction laid the groundwork for a trial that could last until Thanksgiving and result in the death penalty. About 100 witnesses are scheduled to be called.

Within seconds after the prosecutor sat down, Michael Abzug, Anderson’s attorney, conceded that his client killed Gupta. But he said it was “a sudden act of violence”--spurred by anger, not calculation.

Abzug said that when the pair went stargazing at a turnout on Angeles Crest Highway, Anderson informed Gupta that he was not going to leave his wife. That enraged the pediatrician, who swung violently at Anderson and then threatened to hurt his 7-year-old daughter, the defense attorney said.

At that point, Abzug said, “he snapped. He didn’t think. He strangled her. It wasn’t a perfect murder. It was a perfect mess.”

Jurors could find that Anderson acted in the heat of passion and convict him of voluntary manslaughter.

Thompson’s version, however, hinged on money, not passion. She said Anderson killed Gupta because he was already paying alimony and child support to his ex-wife and feared a greater burden.

Before they met on the remote highway, Gupta had purchased prenatal vitamins, Thompson revealed.

“She made up her mind she was going to have the baby,” Thompson said. “Little did she know her decision to have the baby was a fatal one.”

Thompson also alleged that Anderson tried to create an alibi the night of the slaying by telling nurses at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Pasadena that he would be making rounds. Then Anderson and Gupta drove in separate cars up Angeles Crest Highway shortly before 6 p.m. to the turnout.

On the way up, Thompson said, Gupta called her spiritual advisor, who knew she was pregnant by Anderson, and told him she was following the doctor up the road. “She made that call because something wasn’t right and she knew it,” the prosecutor said.

At mile marker 33, Gupta got into Anderson’s car--where Anderson strangled her with his hands and then a tie, Thompson alleged.

But at this point, Anderson’s plans veered off course, the prosector said. He put Gupta’s body in her SUV and doused it with gasoline, preparing to conceal the evidence. As he pushed the car to the edge of the cliff, he misjudged the distance and the vehicle started rolling down the hill before he could throw a match, Thompson said.

A passing driver saw the car plunge and followed Anderson until the doctor got stuck on the mountain road about seven miles away, she said. That motorist reported the incident to the U.S. Forest Service, and sheriff’s deputies then arrested Anderson.

Thompson said jurors will hear a tape of Anderson confessing to the homicide but lying to sheriff’s detectives about his relationship with Gupta and his motive. The prosecutor said she will also show that he called his ex-wife and paged Gupta after strangling her to add to his alibi.

In contrast, Abzug told jurors that his client never confessed to “premeditated murder.” He said the fact that a passing motorist could so easily come upon Anderson proved that the doctor was panicked and didn’t plan the killing.

“There was no rational plan for Dr. Anderson to escape here. It wasn’t premeditated,” said Abzug, noting that his client drove toward Palmdale because he was so panicked.

Jurors also heard Tuesday about Anderson’s failed effort to open a practice with Gupta a month before the death.

Thompson told jurors that Anderson needed the association with Gupta because, unlike her, he was not a board-certified pediatrician. The prosecutor said Anderson romantically pursued the young, attractive Gupta and that the business venture went awry when Anderson’s wife objected.

But Abzug said it was Gupta, not Anderson, who stood to benefit from the proposed practice. He said Anderson, a 13-year pediatrician with a lucrative position at St. Luke’s, was the one with all the patients and Gupta was just a year out of medical school. Abzug also disputed the notion that Anderson had entrapped Gupta in a relationship. “The mutual feelings of affection were reciprocal,” he said.

The defense lawyer said Gupta had been attracted to his client because she was in a “shaky marriage” to a verbally abusive husband.

Both Gupta’s husband and Anderson’s wife sat in the front row during opening statements.

Anderson, dressed in a gray pinstripe suit, sat a few feet in front at the defense table and hardly moved while he jotted notes.

The first witness called Tuesday was Jay Lariviere, the passing motorist who testified that he saw Gupta’s SUV fall off the cliff as Anderson’s car sat nearby.

Lariviere said he pursued Anderson and then got his license plate number after the doctor’s vehicle got stuck on a berm about seven miles away. Lariviere testified that he was the first to go down the hillside to the smashed SUV.

In a strange twist, Lariviere also testified that he revisited the scene a day later and found two envelopes, a card given to Gupta by Anderson, and prenatal vitamins--clues that investigators apparently missed.